Hold Up
by daydreamer-022
Summary: [COMPLETE] New York City is a dangerous place, especially when Mia does not have the protection of Lars...
1. The First Fight

Ok, new story. Please review it. Thanks.  
  
Disclaimer: Meg Cabot owns everything.  
  
The first chapter is just setting up the background for the later 'problems,' so stick with it, it does go somewhere.  
  
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Chapter One...  
  
Michael rejoined the table and handed Mia her bean salad, "Here's your salad, Mia." He said.  
  
"Thanks," Mia replied, digging in to her second helping of lunch. She was so hungry.  
  
"So, what are we doing tonight?" He asked her.  
  
"Oh, um, I have to cancel our plans tonight, I'm sorry. Tina is coming over to my house, she's still upset about the whole Dave thing, she needs cheering up. Can we reschedule for tomorrow night?" Mia asked nervously. This was the second time she had canceled on Michael this week. But it wasn't her fault. The first time Fat Louie had swallowed a sock. Michael knew Fat Louie came first. And he had only swallowed the sock in the first place because he hadn't been given enough attention recently. Mia had been busy.  
  
Michael was disappointed, she could tell. Lately something always seemed to be getting in the way of their alone time together. It was always either Grandmere meddling, Fat Louie and his socks, or Lilly's problems.  
  
Now it was Tina.  
  
Michael didn't want to blame Tina. He was sorry about what had happened with Dave, he really was, but this was just one more thing in the way of their relationship.  
  
"Mia," he started, "I understand that you have certain obligations. To your family, your friends, your cat, but you cannot keep putting me at the end of the list. I can't just be a way to kill time before you find something better to do. Call me when you have time for me."  
  
And with that he stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.  
  
Mia was crushed. She had never wanted to upset Michael, but she had other people who needed her too.  
  
Mia looked back at her friends. Tina looked upset for her.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mia," she said "If you want to go out with Michael tonight instead, I understand."  
  
"Are you kidding?" exclaimed Lilly, "Michael is just chucking a hissy fit. He does this thing all the time."  
  
"Yeah, Tina," stepped in Mia, "I'm hanging out with you tonight, Michael will deal."  
  
But inside she wasn't so sure. She turned around to look at the door through which Michael had just exited. What is going to happen now? The arn't going to break up over this are they?  
  
* * *  
  
Mia was sure Michael would be better by the time G&T came around, but she was wrong.  
  
When she walked into the room, Michael was already there. He had pushed his desk apart from hers and was sitting by himself with his computer.  
  
Mia walked over to him, she had to say something. She couldn't just leave the situation the way it was.  
  
"Michael..." she started.  
  
"Don't say anything, Mia," he interrupted. "I just need to be alone for a while, ok?"  
  
"Ok," Mia replied. She could feel her heart breaking. Michael wasn't even speaking to her! What was she suppossed to do now?  
  
She sat down next to Lilly.  
  
"Lilly, what am I going to do? He won't even talk to me! I really think this might be a serious problem with us. Maybe I should just cancel on Tina. I don't want to but I can't leave things the way it is. She'll understand."  
  
Lilly looked unsympathetically at Mia. "Don't do anything," she said sternly. "Michael is just being a pain. Deep down he understands that you have to be there for Tina, he is just being a sour puss because it affects him directly, and he doesn't want to share you. Don't give in to him, and don't say anything else. He will come around. Now stop being so damn dramatic, it's not the end of the world!"  
  
Mia knew that Lilly was right. But she couldn't help stressing over the situation. What if Michael didn't understand, what if he never spoke to her again?  
  
* * *  
  
Michael sat by himself against the window. He was pretending to be working on his computer, but he couldn't concentrate. Why was he over reacting so much? Maybe he should just go over and apologise. Afterall, she was only doing what she does best, supporting her friends.  
  
No, he decided. He shouldn't go over there to apologise because if he did that then she would think it was ok to cancel on him whenever anything else turned up, no matter how trivial.  
  
He would just wait it out a little longer. He'd ring her tomorrow and apologise. That way they could still do something tomorrow night, she had said she was available.  
  
Yes, that made the most sense. Until then, he would just stay out of her way so she would know he was serious about being made a priority in her life. Not necessarily her number one priority, but he had to be given some kind of status.  
  
Please review now, thanks, I'll put more up in a few days.... 


	2. Cravings

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, Meg Cabot does.  
  
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"Amelia!" barked Grandmere. "Pay attention! I am an old lady and I cannot be repeating myself five hundred times a day just because you cannot concentrate!"  
  
"Sorry, Grandmere." replied Mia, "I just have a lot on my mind at the moment is all."  
  
"Oh, I see, and what problems could you possibly have? That boy not treating you right? Problems in paradise I see."  
  
"His name is Michael, Grandmere, how many times do I have to tell you that?"  
  
"Pfuit. Whatever." she said. "So, what is the problem?"  
  
"I don't really want to talk about it."  
  
"Now, now, Amelia. You have already interrupted our lesson to tell me you have a problem, now you may as well make it worth my while and tell me what it is. NOW!!!"  
  
"Ok, ok. If you must know, Michael feels he isn't getting enough attention as he should be. That's all."  
  
"Pfuit!!! Men! When will they learn? It's not about them getting the attention, it's about them giving the attention. Always giving, Amelia. Always. Did you tell him that?"  
  
"Well, um, no. Things are done differently these days, Grandmere."  
  
"Well they shouldn't be. Tell him to come see me if he feels he isn't getting enough attention. I'll sort him out."  
  
Mia was sure Michael would NOT appreciate that.  
  
* * *  
  
Michael was having trouble stopping himself from picking up the phone and calling Mia to say he was sorry.  
  
Screw it, he thought, I'm going to do it eventually, I may as well just do it now.  
  
He picked up the phone and dialed the Thermopolis's number.  
  
"Hello?" Helen's voice rang down the phone.  
  
"Hi, Mrs. Thermopolis, Is Mia there please? It's Michael."  
  
"Oh, hi, Michael. No, Mia isn't back from her Princess Lessons yet. Do you want me to get her to call you back?"  
  
Princess Lessons. Of course. How could he have forgotten? It was one of the things that were keeping them apart.   
  
"Oh, no, that's ok, I'll talk to her later. But can you please do me a favor and not tell her that I called?"  
  
"Um, sure," Helen replied, sounding confused. "See you later."  
  
Ok, it was just a moment of weakness, Michael thought. Luckily she hadn't been there. Now he could just go back to his original plan and call her tomorrow.  
  
* * *  
  
"Oh, Mia," Tina cried. "When am I ever going to find anyone as good as Dave was?"  
  
"Tina," Mia replied, "If Dave was so good in the first place, he wouldn't have left you for that Jasmine girl."  
  
"I know, but... oh it just sucks. At least you've got Michael."  
  
"Yeah, but for how long?" Mia asked sadly. She truly believed that it could be over between her and Michael.  
  
"It'll be ok, Mia," said Tina, "Michael will come around. He's one of the good guys, the perfect boyfriend, he wouldn't leave you over something so trivial.  
  
"I hope your right."  
  
"You know what we need?" Tina cried out enthusiastically. "Comfort food! What have you got?"  
  
Obviously Tina thought their woes needed more than words to keep them at bay. But unfortunatly, Mia's mom had already emptied the loft of anything satisfactory, as her pregnancy often requires the use of comfort food.  
  
"We could always go out and buy some food," hinted Tina.  
  
"I dunno, it's getting quite late, and both Lars and Wahim have left, thinking we were locked down for the night. It proberly wouldn't be the best idea."  
  
"But, Mia," pleaded Tina, "Comfort food is exactly what we need! It's only ten o'clock, and 7/11 is just on the corner. There's never anyone hanging around this neighbourhood at night. And we'll only be gone five minutes! Please? I'm really in the mood for one of those giant Crunch bars."  
  
Mia thought about it for a minute. The 7/11 store was only down the street. And her mom and Mr. G were in the nursery setting up, they would never even know they were gone. And a huge Crunch bar did sound appealing. It would certainly help her stop thinking about Michael.  
  
"All right, fine." Mia gave in. "But we'd better sneak out, mom would kill me if she knew I'd left without Lars or Wahim. And turn the music on, then they definetly wont realise we've gone."  
  
"Yes! Thanks, Mia, I'll buy you two Crunch bars!"  
  
The girls grabbed their wallets, turned the radio up loud. They tip toed across the loft to the front door and quicky and quietly slipped out into the darkened street.  
  
It sure was dark outside, suddenly Mia didn't think it was suck a good idea to have left without Lars, but it was too late to turn back, Tina was already pulling her down the street. They may as well keep going.  
  
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Please review.... 


	3. Cute Clerks and Cherry Cokes

Ok, let's just get on with what the summary says will happen shall we?  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Meg Cabot does.  
  
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Chapter Three...  
  
"Did you see that hot clerk at the front desk?" Tina asked Mia as they walked past.  
  
"No, I didn't." replied Mia.  
  
"Oh, so now you have Michael you are completly blind to other guys?"  
  
"Did I say that? No, I just didn't notice him is all."  
  
"Ok, fine. Sorry. Now, what do you want?"  
  
"Um, I dunno, lets just go to the candy aisle." Mia suggested.  
  
They each chose a few items, and headed up to the front of the store.   
  
"This all?" The clerk asked, with a bored expression on his face.  
  
"Oh, wait a second, Tina, I want a Cherry Coke too."  
  
Mia turned around and headed back up to the fridges to grab a bottle.  
  
Tina didn't mind, it gave her a chance to chat with the Clerk, Jason.  
  
"So," she said. "It doesn't get very busy around here at this time of night?" She was just trying to make small talk.  
  
"Not really," He replied with that same bored expression on his face. "Usually it's only the pot heads who have a bad case of the munchies." Jason looked at Tina, an accussing look replacing the bored one.  
  
"Oh, um, no... um, we arn't... we havn't been... we just had a craving for chocolate." Tina said quickly.  
  
Pot heads??? Her and Mia? Oh, yeah right!!!  
  
* * *  
  
Michael had been staring at the phone for quite some time. Numerous times he had contemplated picking it up and ringing her, but he always thought better of it and put it back on the hook.  
  
Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer. He picked up the phone and dialed.  
  
It almost rang out before a flustered Mr. G answered.  
  
"Hello?" He asked.  
  
"Hi, Mr. G, it's Michael. I know it's late, but may I please speak with Mia?"  
  
"Sure, Michael, I thought she would have picked up the phone herself actually. I'll have to go and get her. They proberly have their music up too loud. One minute." He set the phone down and Michael could hear him calling out to Mia.  
  
In the background, music could be heard coming from Mia's room, but not the footsteps of Mia herself. Does she not want to speak to him? Michael thought.  
  
Uh, oh, somethings not right. Michael could hear Mr. G in the back ground calling out to Mia's mom.  
  
"Helen! The girls are missing! Mia, are you here?"  
  
"What?!?" screeched Mia's mom, "Mia, where are you???"  
  
That was all Michael needed to hear. He hastily put the phone down and ran out the front door.  
  
He did not have a good feeling about this, something was wrong. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach.  
  
* * *  
  
Mia had just grabbed a Cherry Coke from the ice cold fridge when she heard something that made her heart skip a beat.  
  
"All right! Listen up and listen carefully and no one needs to get hurt! Put the money in the bag, quickly and quietly and don't even think of reaching for the emergency button."  
  
Mia turned around and ducked at the site of a huge man, dressed in black, complete with a balaclava. He was holding a gun at the guy behind the desk.  
  
"Ok, man, don't shoot me! Please, I'll give you your money."  
  
From behind the refuge of a big stand, Mia could see poor Tina, as white as a ghost, standing only two metres from the robber.  
  
The guy hadn't seen Mia yet, and hopefully he wouldn't.  
  
A woman entered the store. She saw what was happening, let out a little shriek, and ran to the safety of the street. The man tried to grab her as she ran, but missed.  
  
Jason took the opportunity to do something daring, he grabbed a baseball bat from behind the desk and clubbed him over the head hard.  
  
But not hard enough. It gave the woman the chance to run, but it also angred the robber.  
  
"You'll pay for that one!" he cried as he clutched he head with his spare hand, and pointing his other hand, the one with the gun, at Tina.  
  
Mia could hear Tina whimpering from where she was. She had to do something, but what?  
  
* * *  
  
Michael had run as fast as he could to the Loft.  
  
He burst through the door without bothering to knock.  
  
"Where is she?" Michael cried as he bent over to catch his breath.  
  
Helen looked up from her seat at the kitchen table. She'd had her head in her hands.   
  
Mr. G was pacing around the room with the phone glued to his ear.  
  
"Michael!" exclaimed Helen, "Then you don't know where Mia is? Oh, this is just terrible, she's proberly lying in a gutter somewhere!"  
  
Just thinking about that situation made his stomach tense up.  
  
"No, I will not be placed on hold again, I'm missing a child!" Mr. G was crying into the phone.  
  
"We only just realised she was missing. No I will not call back in twenty four hours if we still have not found her! Listen to me, she never goes anywhere without her bodyguard. Oh, I think you will care once you find out who she is, yes, thats right, Princess Amelia Renaldo. Now are you going to help me?"  
  
"Oh give me the phone!" Helen snatched the phone from Frank's hand.   
  
"Listen here, my daughter is missing and you are going to find her. No this is not a prank call, she really is a Princess. Hello? Hello?"  
  
"What happened? What did they say?" Michael asked nervously.  
  
"They hung up on me!" she shouted as she flung the phone down in anger. "She said, 'I'm sorry but my job is reserved for people with real problems' and hung up!"  
  
"Should we go out and look for her?" asked Frank.  
  
''Where are we suppossed to start? I'm calling her father, he can organise a search party in no time." She picked the phone back up and dialed furiously.  
  
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Once again, please review. 


	4. Sugar is Sweet

Thanks for reviewing those that have, please keep doing so.  
  
Disclaimer: Meg Cabot owns most characters. I only own the ones you dont recognise.  
  
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Mia didn't want to get hurt, or worse, killed, but she had to do something. This guy had a gun pointed at Tina and he meant business.  
  
"Don't shoot anyone, man, here I'll give you your money, just don't shoot."  
  
"Oh, concerned for the little miss are you? Maybe I should shoot her, to teach you a lesson. Do you know what that lesson would be? It would be the 'Don't hit people with guns over the head' lesson."  
  
"I'm sorry, ok, just don't shoot!" Jason hurridly emptied the cash register. "Here, take it."  
  
"How much is it?" The guy asked.  
  
"Only a couple of hundred," Jason said quietly. "We emptied the register a few hours ago."  
  
"Only a few hundred? That's all I get? Right, what else can you give me? What else do you have of value?"  
  
"This is a 7/11 store, dude, not a jewellers, nothing here is of value."  
  
"I'm not leaving until I get some kind of compensation for this bump on my head!" The guy was getting really angry now.  
  
Mia slowly stood up.  
  
The guy saw her and was startled, he hadn't noticed her before. He pointed the gun at her.   
  
* * *  
  
Michael was sitting in Mia's room, on her bed to be precise. He was clutching her Pillow.  
  
Mrs. Thermopolis had already called Tina's house to see if they were there, she had called Tinas cell phone, but that had been convienently left in Mia's room. Why would Tina leave her cell phone? She never goes anywhere without it. She had also called Mia's father, he was organising some kind of search party, which proberly consisted of about twenty huge, burly guys with guns.  
  
Michael sighed heavily. He caught a wiff of Mia's smell coming from her pillow. Michael loved Mia's smell, would he ever get to smell it again?  
  
Michael didn't want to think like that. He wanted to think happy thoughts, like that maybe they had snuck out for some midnight snacks, and had gotten held up talking to someone.  
  
* * *  
  
The guy who was holding up the 7/11 store was now talking to Mia.  
  
"What do you want?" he asked, "You want me to shoot you?"  
  
God no, she thought.  
  
"I... I have something you might want." she said nervously. She had never been so nervous in her life, not even when she and Michael confessed their feelings to each other. "You can have them, if you leave the store." Mia could feel the blood rushing to her head as she spoke the words.  
  
"And what would a fourteen year old girl have to offer me?" He said it with a sickly sweet voice, as if to suggest she was offering far more than she really was.  
  
Not THAT, thought Mia.  
  
"These," she pulled out her Mother of Pearl earrings. Grandmere had given them to her for Christmas. "They're worth quite a bit," she added.  
  
"No kidding!" said the guy. "Hand 'em over then."  
  
Mia cautiously walked up to the guy and placed the earrings in his spare hand.  
  
"Well, they certainly look real. What else have you got?"  
  
* * *  
  
The girls still hadn't come back, Michael grew more and more restless as the minutes went on.   
  
He felt so useless, just waiting around for news from Mia's father. He wanted to be out there, doing something.  
  
But instead, he was stuck making coffee for Mia's mom.  
  
"Where's the sugar?" he asked.  
  
"Damn, we ran out this morning. I forgot to get more," she replied.  
  
"Ok, no problem, I'll just run out and get some. I'll be back in a minute."  
  
Michael was glad to get out of the Loft. Even going to get sugar was better than sitting around.  
  
Michael had just reached the store when he saw something that made his heart stop.  
  
A huge man, dressed all in black, was holding a gun at someone. No, not just someone, at Mia! Tina was there too, they were both as white as ghosts.   
  
Michael grabbed his cell phone and called 911.  
  
"Hello? Yes, there is a robbery taking place at the 7/11 store on Edward street. Send help immediatly. My girlfriend is in there!"  
  
"We are aware of the robbery you are reffering to sir, and we have notified all of the squad cars in the area. Someone will be there as soon as possible. Thankyou for your call."  
  
Michael was outraged. The woman had hung up on him! What does it take to get some help around here?  
  
He dialed the Thermopolis's number, Mia's father could have a dozen men here in under two minutes.  
  
* * *  
  
"Um, well, I also have this bracelet, but it holds more sentimental value than money value." Mia said.  
  
He wanted more? Those Mother of Pearls were worth a fortune!  
  
Tina took off her necklace, it had a heart shaped locket on it. "Here," she said, "This is gold."  
  
"Nice," the man said, "You girls have good taste. What else?"  
  
"We didn't exactly come here dressed up," said Mia rather daringly. Honestly, the audacity of the man, wanting more!  
  
"So that's it? That's all I get? A couple of hundred bucks and some jewellery? No, I don't think so. You girls have more. Hand it over."  
  
Mia pulled out her purse, but it didn't hold very much. For the daughter of a man worth over 300 Million dollars, she sure didn't get much in the way of pocket money.  
  
"I have a credit card," piped up Tina.  
  
"No, you'll just cancel that. Come on, you have to have more." The guy was getting restless. He was waving the gun around frantically.  
  
If the guy wasn't happy with what they had already given him, what would he be happy with?  
  
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	5. Rings and gunshots

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Meg Cabot does.  
  
Thanks for reviewing guys, I'll update soon, so I can put my other fic's up too.  
  
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Chapter Five...  
  
Jason spoke up. "Dude, the cops will be here soon, that woman who came in would have called them. Don't you think you should just take what you've already got and leave? While you still can?"  
  
"The cops! Ha! In New York City, I don't think so. They wont be here for at least another hour. I can take my time, they're too busy dealing with homocides and stuff like that. A little 7/11 robbery wont exactly be a high priority to them. Now, what else have you got?"  
  
Jason reluctantly pulled of his watch.  
  
"Here, it's a Rollex. I got it for my 18th," he said sadly.  
  
"Good, finally were getting some stuff I can actually wear. No offense girls, but pearls and necklaces arn't really my thing."  
  
Mia fingered the silver ring on her right hand. It had been a present from Michael. For no particular reason, he had just given it to her.  
  
This had won him a certain amount of brownie points with Grandmere, who believed that men should regulary give their partners presents, for no reason what so ever.  
  
Mia knew the ring held a very minimal amount of value compared to those Mother of Pearl earrings, but she didn't want to give it up, it meant so much to her.  
  
Unfortunatly, the guy saw her playing with it.  
  
"That!" he said, "I want that too!"  
  
"It's not of any value, other than sentimental. Here, have this bracelet instead." Mia started to undo the bracelet, it didn't hold much value either but Mia was desperate not to lose Michael's ring.  
  
"No, obviously that ring is worth a pretty penny, considering you gave me the earrings before it, and you seem so reluctant to give it up."  
  
"Really, it's not worth much at all. My boyfriend gave it to me." Mia was pleading with the scumbag.  
  
"And would your boyfriend prefer you to have a bullet in your head instead of giving up your ring?"  
  
* * *  
  
Michael was standing at the edge of the store. He was making sure the guy couldn't see him, if he was seen, things could go very wrong.  
  
From where he was he could see Mia and Tina giving the guy their jewellery.   
  
Give it to him, Michael was thinking, give it all to him.  
  
He had rung Mrs. Thermopolis and practically given her a heart attack when he told her he had found Mia, and where she was.  
  
But she had said she would ring Phillipe and have him send reinforcements down straight away.  
  
Michael had been waiting for what seemed like forever. It was taking every ounce of self-control he had not to run into the store and tackle the guy himself. But he knew it would do no good. It was better to wait for Mia's father to arrange something.  
  
Finally, Michael heard cars pulling up behind him. He turned around and saw five black vans pulling up, with huge men jumping out of them.  
  
Lars and Mia's father, Phillipe, rushed up to Michael.  
  
"What's going on?" They asked in unison, careful to stay away from the store window so they couldn't be seen.  
  
"He's taken their jewellery, and the money from the till, but he seems to want more. We have to do something, fast!"  
  
"Right," Phillipe said, "Lars, organise the men." Michael looked over Phillipes shoulder to see about fifteen men, all decked out in combat gear, with bullet proof jackets too.  
  
Lars joined the men and started with the orders, "We go in on the count of three, half in the front way, half find the back entrance. I will be the one to shoot, do not shoot unless it is absoloutly necessary, and do not, I repeat do not, shoot to kill. Our main priority is the safety of the Princess. We need to get her out of there. Everyone ready? We go in in one minute."  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
"Fine, but you will be disappointed when you sell it, it wont get much." Mia pulled off the ring and stepped forward to give it to the man.   
  
Suddenly she saw something that made her stop. Michael! Michael was standing just outside with her father!  
  
The man followed her gaze and noticed Michael and Phillipe.  
  
He grabbed Mia and held the gun to her temple, facing her towards the men outside.  
  
* * *  
  
Michael's heart stopped. Their cover was blown. The man had just taken Mia as a human shield.   
  
It's all over, thought Michael. He couldn't move, couldn't speak.  
  
Beside him Mia's father seemed to have better control of himself. He called out to Lars that they had been spotted, and that he was now using Mia as a shield.  
  
Lars swore in French and grabbed half of the men. They ran down the side alley to find an alternative entrance into the store.  
  
* * *  
  
A gun was pointed at her head, and all Mia could think about was that she was never going to get to make things right with Michael. She was going to die without making things better.  
  
She could see him standing outside the window, a shocked expression on his face. All of the color had drained from it.  
  
Was this really how she was going to leave the world? With Michael standing just outside, helpless to reach her, helpless to help her?  
  
* * *  
  
  
  
Michael had to do something. He wasn't just going to stand there and watch Mia get shot.   
  
He miraculously regained the focus to move and ran over to the nearest black van. He grabbed a spare bullet proof jacket and a baton. It was all that was there, it would have to do.  
  
BANG.  
  
Michael froze at the sound of a gunshot and someone falling to the ground.  
  
Behind him he could hear Mia's father gasp.  
  
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*ducks the flying knives from reviewers*  
  
Whoa, sorry for the major cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist. And I don't usually leave major cliffys. So it's not like I do it all the time or anything.  
  
There is still one more chapter, it'll be up soon. 


	6. Damsel in Distress

Ok, here's the last chapter.   
  
Thanks for reviewing everyone, you all rock. Please review this last chapter too.  
  
And I'll have another story up soon too, I have a few to put up, so I'll pick one to put up now. Look out for it.  
  
Disclaimer: I own Michael. Ha, I wish. No seriously, Meg Cabot owns all characters except for Jason and the robber dude.  
  
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Mia lay on her hospital bed. Michael was sitting beside her holding her hand. His head was resting on the bed.  
  
"Hey," she said to him, "It's all over now, Everything is fine."  
  
Michael looked up at her, tears in his red eyes.  
  
"But it might not have been," he sobbed. "You could have been killed and I would have had to live with the guilt of how I acted at school yesterday. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you."  
  
Mia thought back to the night before. Lars had really come through for her.  
  
"Please, please don't shoot me," she pleaded with the man.  
  
"I won't shoot you, if I can be guarranteed a safe trip out of here. You're my bargaining chip."  
  
Great, thought Mia. She was a bargaining chip, just something to be bartered. A hostage.  
  
"Now, who's the old man outside?"  
  
"My father." Mia said through gritted teeth.  
  
"He looks like he's worth quite a bit. How much does he have?"  
  
More than you could ever imagine, thought Mia.  
  
"How much do you want?" she asked him, she didn't exactly want to just come out and say her father was a prince who was worth over 300 million dollars.  
  
"Oh, so that's how it is, is it? I can just name my price? I sure picked the right night for working, didn't I?"  
  
Working? This was the guys job? What a promising career path.  
  
Jason spoke up, "Dude, why don't you just leave? We have a back entrance, use that. Before the cops bust your ass."  
  
Why was Jason speaking back to the guy? Mia thought. Does he want to get shot?  
  
"I'm not leaving until the little miss here gets me something from daddy."   
  
Mia looked outside to her dad, but she couldn't see Michael. Where was he? He hadn't deserted her when she needed him the most did he?  
  
"Just leave! You have enough already!" Jason was getting angry, but the robber was angrier.  
  
"You just shut your face, mate. I'll leave when I'm ready too."  
  
He lifted the gun away from my temple and turned to face Jason at the counter. But he didn't point the gun at Jason, he pointed it at Tina!  
  
"Oh God," Tina muttered.  
  
"If you can't shut up, I'm going to shoot your little girlfriend here," he said to Jason.  
  
That was when Lars took his shot. He'd snuck into the store through the back entrance. So stealthly that no one neither heard nor noticed him.  
  
He shot the man in the thigh and he keeled over in pain, falling on top of Mia. Mia was crushed underneath the weight of him, and suffered a broken arm.   
  
Fifteen huge men, Lars, Mia's father and Michael had all run in once the man had been taken down. The man was apprehended and an ambulance was called.   
  
Michael rushed to her side, and he hadn't left it since. He was still wearing his bullet proof jacket. Mia was glad to see that he had only left the window to try to help her, he hadn't deserted her.  
  
Mia was just glad the whole thing was over. She was never going anywhere without Lars again. Not even to the local 7/11 store for chocolate.  
  
Tina felt the same way. She had come into visit Mia earlier. Both she and Jason had been checked over and given the all clear.   
  
"I'm so sorry for making you come with me, Mia. You were right, we never should have left without Lars or Wahim. I'm so sorry."  
  
"Hey, it's ok, it's not your fault. I could have said no if I'd wanted to."  
  
"I'm just glad you're ok. And we'll get our stuff back!" she said excitedly. The police had said they needed to keep their jewelery for a while, as evidence, but they would eventually get it back.  
  
Mia fingered the ring on her hand. She had never given that up.  
  
"And guess what?" Tina asked. "I asked Jason out!" she said, without even giving us chance to guess. "It's just like out of one of my romance novels, don't you think? We're going out next weekend, once things have calmed down."  
  
"That's great, Tina," Mia said.   
  
"Ok, well I have to go, but I 'll see you both later." Tina said as she walked out of the room.  
  
Mia turned to Michael, who was still sitting next to her on the bed.  
  
"Michael, how did you know where to find me?" she asked him.  
  
"Well," he started. "It's a long story, but basically, I'd rung to apologise to you, and then we realised you were missing. I rushed over to the Loft and while I was making your mom coffee, I needed to go down to 7/11 to get sugar. I came to buy some and stumbled upon the robbery."  
  
"Oh," she said with disappointment.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Well, I just sort of hoped you'd maybe felt something inside, and followed your gut feeling to the store."  
  
"I did, only it was your mothers gut telling me she needed sugar," he leaned over and kissed her hand.  
  
"Yeah, you're my Sugar Hero," she said with a smile.  
  
"And you are my Damsel in Distress. Whenever you need rescuing, I'll be there for you. Always."  
  
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Ok, that's the end for this story. Don't forget to hit that little purple review button! 


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